Two shot in club

Press, 5 March 1982, Page 6

Two shot in club

NZPA-Reuter Brussels The Belgian Government has promised to take tougher anti-terrorist action after a masked gunman with an Albanian accent killed two men and wounded two others at a Yugoslav social club. The police said that the man opened fire with a submachine gun after shouting: “You're all finished.”

The victims, all Yugoslavs, were in the first floor bar of the Belgo-Yugoslav cultural centre when the gunman burst in, shot them, and fled. The attack, the latest in a series against Yugoslav targets in Brussels, was likely to arouse fresh complaints from the Yugoslav Embassy that their nationals receive inadequate police protection. No organisation has claimed responsibility for the shooting, but Yugoslav Embassy aides at the club said that fascist immigrants were to blame.

The Belgian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as odious and cowardly. It said the Government would examine ways to improve security measures. It added that security had already been increased for the visit of a Yugoslav football team, Red Star of Belgrade, which played the Brussels side, Anderlecht, in a European soccer cup match. The Belgian Foreign Minister (Mr Leo Tindemans) presented his condolences over the shooting to the embassy, whose Ambassador (Mr Esad Ceric) was recalled to Belgrade for severalmonths recently in protest at attacks on Yugoslavs in Brussels.